Waiting
by LaceyLouLou82
Summary: Alternate History. Max and Loren wait for news on Eddie's condition.


_**Summary: **_While waiting for word on Eddie's condition, Max lets Loren know exactly how he feels about her.

_**Notes:**_ A/H after Eddie drives off after his fight with Chloe. He wasn't mugged. He was driving and had an accident. Max was notified and he rushed to the hospital with Loren and Nora. This takes place after that.

_**A/N:**_** Apparently, I am full of cheesy stories today. I don't know where this came from I just felt like writing a one-shot and Loren and Max just screamed for it to be about them. I don't really like this, but I wrote it so I had to post it. Review please **

Waiting was probably the thing Max Duran hated most in the world. He was really bad at not knowing what to do. Should he just sit here and continue to take up valuable space in the crowded hospital waiting room? Should he have followed the egotistical doctor who had assured him he knew what he was doing down the hallway and beaten the over confident attitude out of him? Should he go home and get some rest and a shower because he knew he looked like hell and he didn't want his son to see him like this? So many options and yet he seemed rooted to the orange plastic chair where his butt had long ago fallen asleep.

It had been hours since he had received the call no parent ever wanted to get. His son had been involved in a motor vehicle accident and was in critical condition. He had made it to the hospital in a record amount of time with his own girlfriend as well as Eddie's hot on his trail. The three of them had only been given the information that Eddie had sustained a massive head injury as well as severe internal bleeding and was currently unconscious and being prepped for emergency surgery. None of them had even been allowed to see him. So they had taken up residence in the small, sterile waiting room.

A look to his left told him that Loren hadn't moved from her position of steadily staring at the flat screen television mounted above the information desk. Though the news coverage of Eddie's accident that had originally captured the young girl's attention was long over, her brown eyes remained fixed to the screen unblinking, and her face seemed to be frozen with her worried expression. His heart ached for the brunette whose love for his son was both obvious and undeniable.

The feel of a hand of his shoulder had Max pulling his eyes away from Loren and locking with the most beautiful set of brown eyes he has ever seen. Nora smiled down at him and despite their location and his unending worrying over the condition of his only child, he felt his heart warm. The woman, this amazingly unexpected woman had been his lifeline during this whole horribly real nightmare. "Hey. "

"I am going to go down to the cafeteria and get Lo something to eat. Do you want anything?" Her voice was as gentle as her touch and Max reached up to capture the hand on his shoulder with his own.

He really didn't know what he would do without her. He can't even conjure the image of a life without her now that he had found her. "No, thank you. " His eyes cast back toward Loren and lingered. "Is she ok? "

Nora let out a weary sigh and sat down next to her boyfriend. "I don't know. I tried to talk to her but she just keeps staring at the TV. "It scared the hell out of Nora Tate that her daughter was so distraught. She was usually so strong and so in control of her emotions. Of course that was before she met and fell in love with a rock star. "We have been here for hours and I know that we will continue to be here until we know Eddie is ok so we need to eat and stay hydrated because the last thing your son needs is to worry about you and Loren being hospitalized right along with him."

"Do you really think he will be ok?" He wanted to believe that Eddie would just walk out of the hospital with a couple of bruises. But he had seen the same news footage that Loren had seen when they first walked into the waiting room. Some rancid tabloid photographer had gotten an up close and personal candid of Eddie's completely demolished sports car. The image would be forever burned in his mind.

"He has to be. Your son promised me that he wouldn't hurt my daughter, "she focused on Loren as well. " I trust him to keep his word. " And Eddie being anything other than okay would destroy Loren and Nora wasn't ready to deal with that so she would continue to convince herself that Eddie would be just fine and he and Loren would be together again in no time at all. " I will bring you something back and you will eat it. "She informed him as she stood up and leaned down to give him a quick but meaningful kiss before heading towards the elevator.

Five minutes after Nora had gone, Loren still hadn't moved a single muscle and Max was beginning to worry as much about the young girl as he was his son. "Loren. " He said her name loud enough that he knew she must have heard him but she remained unmoving. He decided that maybe a different tactic was needed in this situation. "He loves you, you know. " As soon as the words left his mouth he got a reaction. Maybe not one he hoped for because Loren still didn't speak but she did blink and then slowly turned her head to look at him. Emotion clouded her brown eyes. Worry, sadness, pain, disbelief, was all that Max could name. It literally broke his heart to see her this way. He just wanted to make it okay for her, for them both. "He has never been as happy as he has been these last few months with you."

"He….." her voice was raspy from lack of use and liquid. "He scares me."

Well, that wasn't the reaction he was planning for. "What do you mean, sweetheart. "

He reached a shaky hand up to push some of her long chestnut colored hair behind her ears. "Eddie is the first guy since my dad left that I actually care about, that I let in and now…."

She was on the verge of tears. Max could hear it in her voice and see the water forming in her eyes. He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her up against his side. "He is going to be okay, sweetheart. We have to believe that." And Max did believe it. Well, most of the time anyway.

Loren didn't want to cry. Not in a hospital waiting room full of people, who judging by the way they seemed to keep looking their way, recognized either her or Max or maybe both. And she didn't want to cry in front of Eddie's father, but her tears had a mind of their own and formed a path down her cheeks despite her best efforts to suppress them. She hated feeling weak and right now that's exactly how she felt. Weak and fragile and scared to death that the doctor would come out and announce that Eddie didn't make it. Oh god she really thought she might die if that happened. "But what if he isn't Max? I can't lose him."

"You won't, Loren."

She swiped angrily at her tears. "Things have been so good between us since we got back from the bungalow. I really felt like we were connecting more than ever. I guess that should have been my first clue that something terrible would happen."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I am unlovable. " A fresh set of tears fell from her eyes but she didn't bother to wipe them away. "My dad left me. I wasn't good enough to be his daughter and maybe I am not good enough to be Eddie's girlfriend either. Do you know that he can barely say that word? He said it once. "She sounded so completely devastated and Max didn't even begin to know how to handle this.

Loren's self-esteem was a disaster and he knew that the blame for that lay strictly at her coward of a father's feet. The fact that a man could walk away from his own flesh and blood was completely unimaginable to Max. He could still remember dancing around their tiny kitchen with Katy the night they discovered she was pregnant with Eddie. It had been an emotionally happy time for them and the fact that they were both so young and unprepared for a baby didn't even register in either of their minds. Walking away had never once crossed his mind.

He stood up from the ugly plastic chair and moved so that he was standing in front of Loren now. Bending down on his knees so that he was at her level, he took both of her hands in his. "You are the most lovable person I know, Loren. Your mom and your friend, they completely adore you. And my son, whether he can say the words or not, I KNOW he loves you, I can see it. And me, sweetheart, I love you." Shock overrode every other emotion swimming around her deep chocolate colored eyes as she stared at Max. "You are the most amazing young lady I have ever met. I am grateful every single day that you and your mom came into mine and Eddie's lives. When I look at you, Loren, I don't just see someone who is involved with my son or my girlfriend's daughter, I see a beautiful, smart, brave young woman who brought so much light into my life and my son's life. I see a girl who crawled into my heart when I wasn't looking. "He gave her a smile that he hoped was reassuring. " I am not your father and I would never try to take his place in your life, but sweetheart, I do love you as though you were my own. "

Tears flowed once again, but this time for an entirely different reason as Loren threw herself into Max's arms and hugged him as tightly as she possibly could. He was the sweetest, most amazing guy ever. There was no doubt where Eddie got it from. "I love you too, Max. "

This was the scene Nora found as she came back into the waiting room carrying an overflowing tray of wrapped sandwiches, packages of potato chips and canned drinks. A lump formed in her throat at the sight of her baby girl in her boyfriend's arms and hearing them confess their affection for one another. She was truly blessed in every way.

A throat clearing behind her nearly caused her to drop the tray as she spun around to see the doctor who had first assessed them of Eddie's condition. Max and Loren were on their feet and next to her the second that the doctor made his rude display. Nora sat the tray on a nearby chair and reached down to grab a hand of each person that she loved.

"How is my son?" Max asked anxiously.

"He is in an ICU recovery room right now. The surgery went well and we were able to relieve the pressure on his brain. He should make a full recovery. Is Loren here?" The doctor asked looking from Max to the two women one his left.

"I am Loren. "

"He is asking for you. He really shouldn't have any visitors right now because he needs to rest but he is stubbornly insisting to see you. "

The doctor looked and sounded annoyed but Loren could care less as she smiled widely for the first time since this whole nightmare of a day started. "I won't stay long, I promise." The doctor simply nodded and instructed her to follow him. She kissed her mom and Max on the cheek and then did so, happily.

Max watched Loren's retreating back as she hurried down the hall to keep up with the doctor. Relief flooded through him at the news that his son would be okay. But also pride because he knew that his son was going to tell Loren that he loved her. He had no doubt that Eddie's near death experience provided him with clarity. Loren would no longer feel unloved after today, of that he was sure.


End file.
